The ArtWeek Design Challenge’s theme was out of this world

Participants used their imagination and knowledge of graphic design to create posters advertising a getaway to outer space.

Posters upon posters lined the wall of The Commons’ Mezzanine Gallery last Wednesday evening for a challenge that sparked many students’ creativity. Each of the posters, taking the guise of advertisements for excursions to outer space, displayed vivid colors and imagination.

Commonvision staff member Christina Canner, a senior graphic design major, came up with the space theme. “I was inspired by [Tuesday night’s] Motion Challenge which had ten-second long space animations. I’m also in an astronomy class, so I just think space is really cool,” she said while sporting galaxy-printed leggings.

Canner even designed one of the posters. Hers advertised a trip to the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter. “During my free time, I would work on it. One day when we had a delay, I just sat in Starbucks working on it.” Like Canner, a few other commonvision staff members participated in the challenge as well.

The judges were staff from The Commons Administration, and the three favorites happened to be pieces by commonvision staff members. Because of this, commonvision Coordinator Dwayne Butcher decided to forego making it a competition and instead offered everyone 3D ArtWeek keychains, made with the organization’s 3D printer, and a sketchbook full of designs submitted to them by students and faculty members.

“There were no labels on the pieces, no name tags during judging. I made the decision not to only award the favorites. I’m very proud of all the entries and how well the exhibition looks,” said Butcher. Even though they were unsure of how many submissions they were going to receive, they certainly got enough to line the gallery space in posters.

One of the favorites was a poster with the slogan, “Visit a black hole. You’ll never want to come back.” Designer and staff member, Farah Khan, a recent graduate from the class of 2014 with a degree in animation said, “I did some general research on black holes just to find out how things might look around it.” Intrigued by her findings, she dedicated her time to creating a depiction of a black hole that really stood out.

“I just used paint brush strokes in photoshop. It took about three hours. I’m pretty happy with it because I think it’s simple and funny like many advertisements are.” Khan has been a part of the commonvision team since June 2013 and admits that the majority of the graphic design she knows today comes from working with the organization.

The planning for this year’s Design Challenge began in January and the deadline to sign up was Feb. 21, which allowed artists plenty of time to create their unique pieces. Even though next year’s Design Challenge may not have the same space theme, there’s no doubt that commonvision will come up with another innovative way to challenge one’s imagination and artistic abilities.

 

Photo credit: Jamie Heathcote

(seb)’s regular Breakfast and Bingo was held with a celestial twist.

Every other week, the Student Events Board hosts Breakfast and Bingo. Students turned out on March 7 to win space-themed prizes as a tie-in for UMBC’s Interstellar Week.

Every other Saturday evening, UMBC2’s Student Events Board hosts a free breakfast and bingo with prizes offered. The March 7 event had an outer space theme to go with UMBC’s Interstellar Week.

Held in the Sports Zone in The Commons, the event was well attended for a weekend. Nearly fifty students crowded the booths on the wall and large round tables for an evening of free food and fun. Each seat had a place setting of four bingo cards and each table had several bowls of colorful plastic discs for marking the cards.

Eager chatter filled the room as some students picked out their colored discs of choice. Either for luck or fun, players marked their cards in blues, purples or reds. Breakfast was served shortly after the 6 p.m. start time. Attendees lined up for Belgian waffles, sausage links and bacon.

The games began at 6:30 p.m. Two members of (seb) took the stage: one to pick numbers and another to call them out to the players.

“Are you ready to play Bingo?” said the host with a microphone. The other host stood behind a red box that contained ping-pong style balls printed with bingo numbers. When the box was turned on, the balls bounced around like popcorn. Next to the number-picker was a table of prizes with an E.T. plush doll, astronaut ice cream, a Kevin Spacey poster and more.

A silence came over the room as the numbers were called out in quick succession. Each time B4 was called, a group of students responded with the one-liner “Before what?” After a few rounds the gag lost its luster. Despite this, the group remained dedicated to the joke.

Jason Mascelli, a freshman majoring in global studies, was the first player to win. It was also his first time winning at bingo. Mascelli’s prize was a set of glow-in-the-dark, press-on stars for walls and ceilings.

To keep things interesting, each round used different bingo patterns as a goal. Players had to cover all four corners, make an “x,” a cross, and the extremely difficult “blackout” where the entire board had to be covered in chips.

In the case of a tie, which happened several times throughout the evening, players performed a “Bingo-Off,” where they competed in simple challenges. In the unprecedented case where four players called “Bingo,” a bit of trivia was given. Each winner had to state the largest and smallest planets in our solar system (Pluto didn’t count). Three guessed Jupiter correctly as the largest, but only one knew that Mercury was the smallest. The prize: a Space Jam DVD.

It’s easy to assume that this Breakfast and Bingo was attended primarily by student residents like Mascelli, as it was held on Saturday around dinner time when commuters are less inclined to come to campus. Still, Mascelli insisted the event was not just for residents.

“Bingo is really fun,” he said. “Everyone should come out, especially because it’s a free event.”

 

Photo credit: Shannon Carney

The battle to practice and compete

The men’s rugby team runs their club like a varsity sport, but somehow they still don’t have a permanent place to practice.

These days, the entirety of Walker Field is covered with a layer of thin ice and hard-packed snow. When the field is lacking a group of people running around — either chasing a ball or each other — typical students walking past don’t look twice.

However, those that do look over will notice animal tracks that have created a picturesque imprint on the otherwise clear patch of white land. These tracks highlight the absence of another set of prints from those who are missing the field the most: the Men’s Rugby team.

Because the rugby club operates like a varsity team, it is one of the most organized club sports. However, despite this fact the group has still had difficulty maintaining membership due to the lack of a practice space.

The club has had a difficult season this semester since Walker Field, the only space designated for them to play and practice on, was unusable due to inclement weather conditions.

The poor weather, paired with the fact that outdoor club sports don’t have priority to book basketball courts at the RAC over any official school team — not even over athletes playing two-on-two — has led the team to attempt practicing at some questionable places in order to squeeze in some playing time together.

Junior Corey Fraer, a biology major, said, “We’ve had to get a little creative. [We were] reserving a classroom on the third floor of The Commons, and until last week, we would work out in the hall up there, but we’re no longer allowed to do that.”

The difficulty of finding a practice space isn’t the rugby club’s only problem; the number of competitions that the club can compete in is significantly lower than that of an official school team due to underfunding.

However, with regards to the funds club sports are allotted, the President of Men’s Rugby, Tyler Tippett, a senior majoring in business technology administration, insists that he’s anything but ungrateful. He explains that schools like Salisbury get almost three times less funds from the state than UMBC does for club sports, and that the department is lucky to have larger funds available to them.

Even so, the task of splitting a set sum of money between 26 clubs is in no way easy, especially when those clubs then have to decide whether to spend that money on competition or gear.

What makes it even harder is that there are only two people who oversee the Department of Club Sports. According to Tippett, with a job like that, “It’s pretty much impossible to make everyone happy.”

Men’s Rugby asks members to pay dues after they join, and usually officers can identify who is committed to playing by the amount of people who pay and show up to practices. Money from dues then goes to fund customized gear for players, as well as pay for the gas spent to get to and from competitions.

Yet sometimes the dues still aren’t enough. Since the department is so small and decisions, such as who to give money and how much, can’t be made overnight, there are times when the club’s leadership has to make sacrifices if they want to see their team compete.

Tippett, for instance, had to pay out of pocket for the team to play in a last-minute upcoming game. Though he will get reimbursed later, such a display only solidifies how devoted the club is to playing.

Those who hear about the struggle of the Men’s Rugby often sympathize with their situation, but as Tippett vocalizes, there’s not much that can be done to change the University of Maryland system. He said, “All we can do is play when we get the chance, and hope that people come watch.”

 

Photo: Courtesy of Lynn Tippett

Good health is like music for your soul

What is your name, major and year?

My name is Elaine Yang. I am a junior who is majoring in health administration and public policy, better known as HAPP.

Where are you from (city, county, state)?

I am originally from Windsor Mill, but now I reside in Owings Mills, both in Baltimore County.

Who do you admire and why?

I admire my parents the most because when it came down to either moving and living comfortable lives back in their native Taiwan or staying here [in the United States], my parents chose to stay for the sake of my future. They sacrificed their lives essentially so that I could live mine here. This is the reason why I strive to succeed so that I can do what little I can to repay just a mere fraction of all that they have done for me.

What is your career goal?

My career goal is to graduate with the HAPP degree and then to get my degree at the University of Maryland in order to become a physician’s assistant while working on the administrative end of the healthcare system.

 

If you could change one thing around the world, what would it be?

I am very passionate about healthcare, and I think if I were to have the funds and ability to change the world, I would start a movement for health care reform and have the best-of-the-best professionals in the healthcare field team up with me to help provide the underprivileged with what we would consider as “basic hygiene and check-ups” around the world.

Describe something about you that uniquely stands out.

I think what is unique about me is my passion for people — all people — and my ability to see potential in people. Every day of my life, I want to be making a positive impact on lives even if it is just one person a day. I hope that when I leave this world, I will have made a difference and left a legacy.

What activities do you participate in on campus?

I am still currently exploring the many clubs at UMBC, but right now my main interests are the Taiwanese Student Association, Phi Mu Sorority and the running club.

Who is the celebrity you would like to meet; what would you do with them?

There are many celebrities that I would love to meet, but probably my top three would be Usher, John Legend and Alicia Keys. I just would like to play piano and have a musical jam session with them.

What is/are your favorite thing(s) to do outside of UMBC?

My favorite pastimes are any physical activity, but for the most part, listening to or making music, and reading and writing.

Where do you want to spend your next vacation?

I want to travel in Taiwan, where my family is from. Everything from the mountains to the cities and beaches are just miles apart. The food is amazing, and the country is beautiful. My desire is to truly experience my culture on a firsthand basis.

What is your favorite genre of television and why?

I do not get to watch television much, but I love comedy because I love to laugh and I also love dramatic shows like Law & Order SVU because I love seeing this one character, Olivia, change the lives of victims that she works with.

What kind of music do you like?

Because I am a musician myself, I love all different kinds of music from jazz and country to R&B and pop. I love it all!

If you met Dr. Hrabowski, what would you say to him?

If I met him, I would say, “Thanks, you are so right: UMBC definitely works on the buddy system. The smartest people study together and build off of each other to excel. I have definitely learned that here.”

 

Photo: Courtesy of Elaine Yang

UMBC IS a Maryland-DC Campus Compact member institution, and hosted this event in 2008 (planned by the 2007-08 Shriver Floor members), and 2013.  Student registration is $10, Faculty/Staff AND Community Partners $25.  With enough notice, transportation might be provided, using a Shriver Center van or two.  UMBC Junior Katie Cano is this year's recipient for the Undergraduate Student Award for Civic Engagement.  Some know that Katie is a UMBC Service and Volunteerism Student Life Intern; Student Commissioner, Maryland Higher Education Commission; and a Walter Sondheim Public Affairs Scholar (not to mention a Shriver Floor alum). If you are interested in registering please use the link here!

Imagine you are a UMBC student and you’re on your computer but you need to use a certain piece of software that your current operating system does not support. The computer labs at school are either occupied or not open, what do you do? Why not try Desktone, the virtual desktop that can solve all your software needs without you needing to leave your room.

Desktone is UMBC's virtual lab computing environment. From Desktone, you can access virtual lab computers with all of the software available in the general use computer labs on campus, so if you only have a Mac and you need to use Windows this is the tool for you.  It’s available 24/7 and can support up to 100 simultaneous users. 

A simple search on myUMBC for "Desktone" takes you directly to the FAQ page for it. From here, students simply have to hit the giant “Click here for Desktone” banner and you are taken to a page where you have two key options: launch by downloading the Desktone software on your computer or you can connect to your virtual desktop through your own browser. If you decide to install Desktone, you’ll see optimal performance and is highly recommended.

The best part is there is no account creation necessary, using your own UMBC login credentials you can load up your own virtual desktop in no time. There is no need to be on UMBC’s own network either, so if you’re at home you can still access your virtual desktop.

Reny Thomas, an Information Systems major, uses desktone to get around his own computer’s limitations. Thomas said “Personally, this solved a huge issue for me. I currently use a chromebook, and I love everything about it. I can’t really install software. I was amazed when I was able to run windows via the VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) and I could code Visual Basic through my chromebook.” 

Having a virtual desktop does not mean you still can’t manage your own computer at the same time.  “Since [Desktone] is accessed via an online link I can have it as a tab on my browser.” Thomas said “This allows me to use it as any other tab, and I am still able to access my personal files.”

Any issues students may run into have troubleshooting steps conveniently located on the UMBC Desktop FAQ page. Desktone supports both iOS and Android as well and each have their own apps to download. 

Some may think that simply going to the computer labs would benefit just as much. As Thomas puts it, “As long as the UMBC lab computers have the software the student needs, then the VDI is a perfect solution.”